Love,

HBS

With just one day left on the Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter, the energy you’re projecting into
our little closet is absolutely crackling. (Thanks, we need it!)

In his fireside chat video update, Jordan waxed poetic about
your personal Shadowrun stories and how they’ve inspired us. So much, that our normally
camera-shy team members (and couple of our friends) were compelled to share
some of their Shadowrun stories with you.

So while you’ve been pushing the project closer and closer
to $1.75m and we’ve been crunching to finish our latest game, our
friends at Bootstrapper Studios edited together this little ditty.

Enjoy.

Again, we thank you for your incredible support in the
closing hours of this amazing adventure.

______________________________________________

Shoot Straight. Conserve Ammo. And Never Cut a Deal With A Dragon.

Jordan Weisman, the creator of Shadowrun, is back and Shadowrun Returns (for Apple & Android tablets and PCs) is the game that Shadowrun fans have been waiting for a long time. A graphically rich 2D turn-based single player game with deep story interaction, meaningful character development, and highly-contextual
tactical combat, Shadowrun Returns is not only going to make some old geeks (like us) very happy but it will introduce new players to a dynamic gaming universe that is beloved around the world.

Created almost 25 years ago, Shadowrun remains one of the
most original and cherished role-playing settings. The game world’s origin
story mashes-up the dystopian Cyberpunk future of a Blade Runner with the high fantasy creatures and races of a Lords of the Rings in an organic way that produces iconic
characters, environments, and situations.

Here's how it works:

According to the Mayan Calendar (and lots of tabloids),
the world will end on December 21, 2012. It’s part a 5,200 year cycle of death
and rebirth that, in Shadowrun, actually charts the ebb and flow of magic from
the Earth. So, on 12/21/12 magic will return, end this world, and wreak holy
havoc while starting the next. Aboriginal cultures, who maintained their mystical
traditions, are the first to feel the return of magic and use their newfound
power to reshape the political, financial, and physical world around
them. As the magic increases, Elf and Dwarf babies are born to very
surprised parents who carry the right combination of long-dormant genes. But
all of these events pale in comparison to the horror of "goblinization", which
painfully reshapes the teenage bodies of those unlucky enough to carry dominant
Ork or Troll genes. And then the first Great Dragon rises from its 5,200
yearlong hibernation and circles over Tokyo, signaling that the world has truly AWAKENED.

Fast forward two
generations, to a world transformed not only by the growth of magic but by the
acceleration of cyber technology—a continual effort to improve upon the gifts
that nature gave humanity; by the inevitable maturation of the World Wide Web
into the Matrix—a network directly accessible by the human brain; and by the
near elimination of governments as they are replaced megacorporations—monolithic
entities who see only customers, not citizens.

And moving through the dark shadows cast by the gleaming
towers of the corps, are Shadowrunners – disposable assets and corporate pawns
scratching out a living using a combination of technology, magic, and street
smarts. Shadowrunners live between the cracks and operate outside the law,
doing the dirty work that corporate wage-slaves won’t soil their hands with and
occasionally acting as the only protection the citizenry can turn to.

Welcome to the world of Shadowrun, where man meets magic and machine.

There are a couple of key ideas at the core of Shadowrun Returns.

Deep, Interactive Stories

We intend to
follow a braided anthology structure for our story. Jordan, his partner Mitch Gitelman and Mike Mulvihill, who led Shadowrun game development at FASA Corp. will craft and structure the meta-story, then supply key information for a group of writers to weave into their own short stories, which we'll then use as the basis for our missions. To ensure an authentic tone, we'll incorporate the storytelling skills
of many Shadowrun authors and designers who've been carrying the flame over the last 23
years such as:

Michael A. Stackpole

Mike Mulvihill

Tom Dowd

Malik Toms

Mel Odom

Jason Hardy

Stephen Kenson

The result should be an overall narrative that is layered, textured, and satisfying.

One of the many innovations in Data East’s Shadowrun Super
Nintendo game was a unique conversation engine that opened up new avenues of
conversation based upon information you learned through interactions with
characters and objects. We intend on taking a similar path with a new twist or two.

Contextual Gameplay in Four Realities

Four realities overlap in the world of Shadowrun (the Physical,
the Digital, the Mystic, and the Astral) and associated character classes such as the Street Samurai, Hacker, Combat Mage, and Shaman, each have the
ability to view and interact with the world in ways the others can’t.

Here are some ways that selecting
each character type allows you to see the map from a different perspective:

Street Samurai see a threat assessment overlay of
the environment that notes enemy appraisals, options for cover, potential
weapons, and statistics for drawn weapons.

Combat Mages see magical auras, granting them
the ability to locate magical items, identify spells being prepared, and find
the intersections of magic lay lines where they can recharge their power.

Hackers/Deckers see the digital control circuitry
that allows them to manipulate the physical world via the digital one.

Shaman see the “true world” that lies in
the astral plane, distinguishing the true nature of people, plants, creatures,
and magical objects while buildings and other “dead” objects appear as mere
shadows.

Missions (aka "Runs") in Shadowrun
Returns can require interaction with all four realities simultaneously, requiring
you to use information learned from each character’s perspective to coordinate
their context-sensitive actions to get the job done. . . and survive.

That’s why we decided to make Shadowrun
Returns a turn-based game—so we can offer you a wide range of context-based
gameplay options from which to craft a
your plan.

The Streets Tell a Million Stories

One of the things that we feel most strongly about is that the
world of Shadowrun was created for all of us to tell stories within. That’s one
of the beautiful things about in-person tabletop role-playing—the stories
are extremely relevant to you and your friends because they were made by you
and your friends.

In honor of that tradition, we plan to release our PC-based level
editor when we release Shadowrun Returns
so that everyone can create their own Shadowrun stories & “runs”. When you upload your stories, you can make them available to your Friends Only or the
entire Shadowrun community.

The game we want to make is very humble by modern blockbuster game standards but it is still way beyond the ability of a small start-up to fund by
itself. The restraints on the license from Microsoft made it impossible to get
established publishers interested in Shadowrun and so it remained just a dream
for a long time until Jordan saw the recent successes of some other veteran designers on Kickstarter.

Crowd sourcing to fund creative content represents truly profound
change to the status quo. While we watch financial models for the creation and
distribution of creative content continue to erode, Kickstarter charts a
direction for how fans can directly impact development of creative content they want by funding its creation.

We hope that ShadowrunReturns is a creative concept you want
to help make into a reality and we thank your consideration and support.

It is strange to be required to license your own game in order to
make a new version of it but that’s what can happen when you’re old and keep changing
companies. Here's the fast-forward version:

And so, our favorite game has come full circle and Jordan is again
leading the development of a world he started oh, so many years ago.

And
for those of you that have been around since the very early days, we want to
make sure that YOU understand that WE understand and that we'd love to see things like this (and more) in the game.

Mr. Johnson(s), Lofwyr
(can’t leave him out can we?), gangers, toxic spirits, Renraku Arcology, The Sprawl, the Redmond Barrens & the Ork Underground (oh yes), UCAS, Tir
Taingire and even the Sioux Nation, but most of all
you WILL be saying (or is that screaming?). . . “Never EVER Deal with a Dragon!”

FAQ

The world of Shadowrun is a dangerous place, especially for runners. Normal ambulances tend to shy away from firefights and magical fireworks, so smart runners subscribe to Doc Wagon™, a service that provides heavily armed medical extraction teams to swoop in and save their ass and deliver emergency medical attention.

In the game, this free Doc Wagon subscription (game money, not real money) will help keep your character and friendly NPC’s alive. This is important, because if one of your NPCs is killed during a mission, you can’t use that NPC again.

In real life, the Gold and Platinum cards let people know that you're a badass willing to contribute to The Cause. In-game, we'll likely up the free service.

The level editor will be the one we use to make the game—ugly and powerful. (In other words, it’s about as far from the polished Little Big Planet editor as conceivable.) But we believe in you. If we can use it, you can use it, right? Then again, with some additional funding, we might be able to put some lipstick on it.

We are setting the game in the 2050 era of the Shadowrun timeline. We chose this setting because it’s the one that we originally created and the one that the fans of the SNES and Sega Genesis know and love.

In 2007, Microsoft published a game called Shadowrun for Xbox and PC. The game was a unique and innovative first person shooter but it took way too many liberties with the Shadowrun story and mythology. As a result, the game “was not received well by fans.” Jordan’s partner, Mitch Gitelman, was the Executive Producer on the game and with Shadowrun Returns, he’s taking his shot at redemption. Let’s all be supportive of this mythic journey back from the dark side.

For mobile tablets, Shadowrun Returns will be available via iTunes, Android Marketplace, and the Amazon Android marketplace. For PC/Mac/Linux, the game will be available DRM-free from our website. We are also looking into a Steam release (and potentially Humble Bundle as well).

While the details are still being worked out, we hate draconian DRM as much as the next guy. We expect there will be an account system but it would be primarily used to enable the social elements of the game like mission and character sharing--not to restrict access to the game itself.

Unfortunately, the app stores make it very difficult for independent game developers to give away free game this way, so we had to go with PC/Mac/Linux only. We've heard about other teams investigating ways of doing this but they haven't succeeded yet, so stay tuned.

Shadowrun Online is a 3D in-browser, mission based MMO with an emphasis on co-op and PvP gameplay being developed by Cliffhanger Productions and scheduled for release in mid-2013. The game is set in the 2070 era of Shadowrun and will pick up on some of the plotlines and characters in our game, Shadowrun Returns, which is set in 2050.

Let's start here--Shadowrun was never about the rules. It's about the game world. If you need proof, look at the 1st Edition rules. They were. . . lacking. But the world caught on and the rules improved. So we intend to be true to the world and take our rule cues from the 2nd and 3rd Editions. They best represent the 2050 era time frame.

We'll run a backers-only survey after our Kickstarter time period ends (4/28/2012). (Kickstarter doesn't allow backer-only surveys before then and we want to be sure to keep the decision purely for backers.)

As we scan your posts across the boards and forums, a few cities seem to rise to the top: Berlin, Chicago, Denver, London and Washington DC. We're still listening and there's still plenty of time left for debate.

Adepts, the modern-day ninjas and berserkers, use magic to enhance the body’s abilities. An Adept's powers (magical abilities) become a natural part of the adept through study and training - the adept’s way is one of intense training and self-discipline.

Pledge $30 or more

8,478 backers

Previous reward + your character will start the game with a SPECIAL ABILITY only available to backers + a PDF version of the Shadowrun Returns Anthology, an ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF SHORT STORIES written for the game and edited by Jordan Weisman, the creator of Shadowrun. + NEW You will also get the IN-GAME DocWagon benefit of a fully-armed emergency ambulance or chopper to save your team of runners when the drek hits the fan.

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

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Pledge $50 or more

1,397 backers

THE ALL-DIGITAL REWARD BUNDLE

This reward bundle is completely independent of all other reward levels, does not include any previous rewards, and is not added to reward levels above.

A Digital Downloadable COPY OF THE GAME, DRM free on PC, Mac, or Linux + one totally sweet, exclusive desktop WALLPAPER for your PC, Mac, or mobile tablet + your character will start the game with a SPECIAL ABILITY only available to backers + a PDF version of the Shadowrun Returns Anthology, an ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF SHORT STORIES written for the game and edited by Jordan Weisman, the creator of Shadowrun + you will also get the IN-GAME DocWagon benefit of a fully-armed emergency ambulance or chopper to save your team of runners when the drek hits the fan + a DRM-free digital version of the GAME SOUNDTRACK.

This bundle includes no physical goods and helps with VAT, duty and shipping costs for our international backers.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2013

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Pledge $60 or more

4,378 backers

Previous rewards + a DRM-free digital version of the GAME SOUNDTRACK + a Shadowrun Returns "BACKER" T-SHIRT + a PERSONALIZED DOC WAGON CARD will be sent to your home + you will also get the IN-GAME DocWagon benefit of a fully-armed emergency ambulance or chopper to save your team of runners when the drek hits the fan. Note: This is an in-game service only. No armed medical extraction team will actually arrive at your home. More details in the FAQ. (Please add $5 for international shipping)

Note: This is an in-game service only. No armed medical extraction team will actually arrive at your home. More details in the FAQ.

(Please add $5 for international shipping)

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

You selected

Pledge $100 or more

1,128 backers

Previous rewards + A HARDCOVER EDITION of the Shadowrun Returns Anthology + your NAME IN THE CREDITS of the game AND the anthology book + a GOLD Doc Wagon card sent to your home. (Please add $15 for international shipping)

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

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Pledge $125 or more

4,247 backers

Previous rewards + a DELUXE BOX EDITION including the game disc, soundtrack disc, a mini-poster, and—check this—a Shadowrun Returns USB Dog Tag set, containing DRM-free versions of the game (PC/Mac/Linux) and soundtrack (and maybe one or two other surprises, too). (Please add $15.00 for international shipping.)

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

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Pledge $175 or more

379 backers

Previous rewards (excluding the All-Digital Bundle) + ALL 3 Shadowrun Returns "BACKER" T-SHIRTS. These 3 shirts are NOT in addition to the shirt you get at the $60 level. At this level you get 3 shirts total. (Please add $15 for international shipping)

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

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Pledge $250 or more

417 backers
Limited (583 left of 1000)

Previous rewards + A SPECIAL EDITION, SIGNED & NUMBERED HARDCOVER of the Shadowrun Returns Anthology (this replaces the edition you get at $100) + EARLY ACCESS to the LEVEL EDITOR so that your shadowruns can be the first into the game (date for editor TBD). (Please add $15 for international shipping)

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

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Pledge $500 or more

100 backers
All gone!

Previous rewards + the shadowruns you design will be MARKED with a special GLYPH so they'll be highlighted and easy to identify + a PLATINUM Doc Wagon card sent to your home. (Please add $15 for international shipping)

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

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Pledge $1,000 or more

41 backers
Limited (9 left of 50)

Previous rewards + we'll use YOUR IMAGE to CREATE AN NPC CHARACTER for the game. It's our choice what NPC you'll be but if you have a suggestion, we'll listen.

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

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Pledge $2,500 or more

12 backers
Limited (8 left of 20)

Previous rewards + we'll create the art for one EXCLUSIVE CUSTOM PLAYER CHARACTER based upon your description and/or sketches. When your friends hire your character, they'll get to see it too! (Limit 2 revisions.)

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

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Pledge $5,000 or more

0 backers
Limited (10 left of 10)

Previous rewards + 1 Large or 2 Small custom art assets created for you to be used EXCLUSIVELY in your missions (Limit 2 revisions) + a CONSULTATION with our Art director and Level Designer to help tune one of your shadowruns.

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

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Pledge $7,500 or more

0 backers
Limited (5 left of 5)

Previous rewards + spend the AFTERNOON AND EVENING at Harebrained Schemes World Headquarters. You’ll have LUNCH WITH JORDAN AND THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM and then PLAY SHADOWRUN WITH JORDAN. Your Game Master will be Mike Mulvihill, who led Shadowrun game development at FASA Corp. (You must be able to travel to Redmond, WA).

Estimated delivery:Feb 2013

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Pledge $10,000

3 backers
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Previous rewards + Mike Mulvihill, who led Shadowrun game development at FASA Corp., will COME TO YOUR TOWN TO RUN A TABLETOP GAME OF SHADOWRUN FOR YOU AND FIVE OF YOUR FRIENDS. (He'll even buy some snacks.)